29 September 1997 – Subject To Change
Glossary
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NATURALLY ALIGNED data
Data stored in memory such that the address of the data is evenly divisible by the
size of the data in bytes. For example, an ALIGNED longword is stored such that the
address of the longword is evenly divisible by 4.
NMOS
N-type metal-oxide semiconductor.
NVRAM
Nonvolatile random-access memory.
OBL
Observability linear feedback shift register.
octaword
Sixteen contiguous bytes starting on an arbitrary byte boundary. The bits are num-
bered from right to left, 0 through 127.
OpenVMS Alpha operating system
The open version of the DIGITAL VMS operating system, which runs on Alpha
platforms.
operand
The data or register upon which an operation is performed.
PAL
Privileged architecture library (software). See also PALcode.
Programmable array logic (hardware). See programmable array logic.
PALcode
Alpha privileged architecture library code, written to support Alpha microproces-
sors. PALcode implements architecturally defined behavior.
PALmode
A special environment for running PALcode routines.
parameter
A variable that is given a specific value that is passed to a program before execution.